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30 Questions That Children Should Be Asking Their Parents About The U.S. Economy

By Michael Snyder, on August 22nd, 2011

There are a whole lot of things about the U.S. economy that don’t make any sense whatsoever. Sadly, most adults have been so programmed to accept the way that things are by years and years of relentless propaganda that they don’t even bother to question the status quo any longer. But little kids are different. Many little kids are not afraid to say the darnedest things or ask really embarrassing questions. Have you ever been in a situation where a child asks an obvious question that did not even occur to any of the adults? That happens so often because the minds of little kids have not been completely warped by the world we live in yet. They are able to see things with honesty and innocence and with fresh eyes. Well, perhaps all of us should start looking at our economy and our financial system through the eyes of little children. There are a lot of things that we have been programmed to accept that we really should be asking some hard “why questions” about.

Do you remember the fairy tale entitled “The Emperor’s New Clothes“? All of the adults were telling the emperor how wonderful his clothes looked as he strutted about. It took a little child to proclaim that the emperor was really running around naked.

Well, things are very similar today. Our politicians, our media, the big corporations, the big Wall Street banks and our entire education system all tell us that everything is just fine. They promise that any downturns are just temporary and that things will soon be better than ever.

But are they telling us the truth?

Perhaps it is time for someone to step forward and point out that the emperor does not have any clothes on.

The following are 30 questions that children should be asking their parents about the U.S. economy….

#13 If the producer price index has increased at an annual rate of at least 7.0% for the last three months in a row, then how can Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke claim that inflation is still very low?

#14 Why does hardly anyone seem concerned that global food prices are 33 percent higher than they were a year ago?

#15 If low income jobs now account for 41 percent of all jobs in the United States, then how are we going to continue to have a vibrant middle class?

#16 If only 66.8% of American men had a job last year, then how are the rest of them supposed to support their families?

#17 If it costs tens of billions of dollars to take care of all of the illegal immigrants that are already in this country, why did the Obama administration go around Congress and grant “backdoor amnesty” to the vast majority of them? Won’t that just encourage millions more to come in illegally?

#18 Shouldn’t we be alarmed that 59 percent of all Americans now receive money from the federal government in one form or another, and that U.S. households are now receiving more income from the U.S. government than they are paying to the government in taxes? Didn’t our founding fathers try to warn us about this sort of thing?

#19 If homes sales continue to drop even with mortgage rates near record lows, then what in the world is going to happen to the real estate industry once interest rates start going up?

#20 Why has the cost of college tuition in the United States gone up by over 900 percent since 1978? Has the quality of a college education gone up by 900 percent?

#21 If the new health care law is so great, then why has the Obama administration granted 1,472 waivers to companies and organizations so far?

#22 Why is the percentage of millionaires in Congress more than 50 times higher than the percentage of millionaires in the general population?

#23 If the debt ceiling deal was such a big deal to the Republicans, then why did they agree to a deal that only included a measly 25 billion dollars in savings prior to the next presidential election?

#24 The poorest 50% of all Americans collectively own just 2.5% of all the wealth in the United States. If allowing the federal government and the big corporations to run everything results in a massive concentration of wealth at the very top and leaves so many others barely able to survive, then why do we continue to run things this way? Isn’t capitalism supposed to be about empowering individuals and small businesses?

#26 If millions of our jobs have already been shipped out of the country, then why is Barack Obama trying to get Congress to agree to even more free trade agreements with countries where it is legal to pay slave labor wages?

#27 Why has the United States had a negative trade balance every single year since 1976?

#28 If the United States has lost an average of 50,000 manufacturing jobs a month since China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, then why don’t our politicians do something about it?

#29 Why was the new Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial on the National Mall made in China? Wasn’t there anyone in America that could make it?

#30 If 78 percent of the American people are dissatisfied “with the way this country’s political system is working”, then why won’t the politicians change the way that they are doing things?

Number 29 really seems to be the case in point…”made in China”…seriously!? Outsourcing our culture and history is deplorable and shameful. Of course, considering our education systems in this country are ineffective, it’s most unlikely kids would ask this one anyway. Ignorance is truly bliss. I home school our children and the reality is that history and economics discussions are quite depressing lately. Excellent article, as usual, I enjoy keeping up with your insight!

Michael

Thank you Armel :)

It is always good to hear some encouraging words.

Michael

Ben Dover

If umurikuns r so dissatisfied with congress, why were ofer 80% returned to office even in last year’s “historic” election?

William

Most parents today are such a failure that they do not raise kids who could ask any questions of importance, like
“WHY does the unconstitutional FED continue to exist.”
or
“Why does the USA go to war when the Congress does not pass a declaration of war.”
or
“Why can the federal gubmint violate the Constitution with impunity.”

Ameen

How sad that NOBODY asks these questions….

http://www.placeofrefuge2012.com Sheila

Those are great questions, however I don’t think it really matters, the entire system was created to be brought down by the banksters when they choose to do it….. and by the way things look now I’d say that they must be in process of bringing the system down now as we speak.

The politicians are living in another reality. Do they really believe the stuff they are selling us?
Only buy the bare necessities to live. That is how we can fight back. ‘Silent strike’.

Joe Johnson

Of course all these questions lead to other, more important questions. Such as; Why do the American people allow their leaders to work against them for the benefit of the banking industry and multinational corporations.? If America’s representives only truly represent the interest of 5% of the population why aren’t the other 95% fighting back.? Why are they just laying down and giving up.? Do we even deserve to be a nation of people with any rights and civil liberties since it is very clear we are unwilling to fight to keep them.?

mondobeyondo

30 questions that Children should be asking their Parents about the U.S. Economy
————
Umm, time to break it down in a way children will understand…..

Questions 1-6: “Why are things so weird? Everyone is moving away because they can’t pay for their houses.”

Question 7: “What time is Spongebob Squarepants on?”

Questions 8-10: “How come we are so hungry every night? And why did you lose your job, Dad?”

Questions 11-17: “Dad, when you gonna get a job?”

Question 18: “Are we going to Disneyland this year?”

Question 19: “My teacher needs new pencils, and the school won’t pay for them. Can you buy some for her?

Question 20: “What does a maxed out credit card mean? Is it like that movie Mad Max? That was way awesome!”

Question 21: “Mom said she was just laid off from her job. What does “laid off” mean?”

Questions 22-29: “Why won’t someone help our family?”

Question 30: “Can we go to Dairy Queen tomorrow? I’m really hungry.”

mondobeyondo

Not exactly “Leave it to Beaver”, or “Ozzie and Harriet”, is it? Times have changed, and not for the better.

http://lastdayrapture.blogspot.com/ TK

That is good stuff mondobeyondo!

If there is anything good that will come out of the coming depression, it is the fact that millions will learn to be content with what they have.

A.S.

I think kids will understand these matters, but you have to rephrase the questions in ways they can understand. Most of them will be hard to explain, so lets take just a few that can be made into their level:

#1 Why is it fair for mommy and daddy to buy things they can’t afford and promise the store owner, “When my kid grows up, he or she will pay you triple.”?

#3 Why is the school bully resorting to a new tactic?: he is paying all of my friends not to be friends with me anymore.

#5 Why can’t my big brother get a job? Is he an idiot?

#7 Is our family poor?–I thought only poor people use food stamps.

#8 Why can’t our family get a nice house and car like our next-door neighbor?

#9 Why does the police pick on me so much? I am only trying to sell some lemonade.

#11 Why are we using so many credit cards? My teacher told me credit cards are bad!

#12 Why did those black kids steal from my daddy’s store?

#13 I am scared of that man on TV. Why can’t we call him Booggie Beetlejuice?

#14 Why am I eating less food? Does mommy and daddy want me to die?

#15 Are we poor?

#16 Why can’t my daddy find work?

#17 Why are there so many Mexican children in my school? I am not racist, just curious!

#19 Why are mommy and daddy crying so much at night? I think we will lose our home.

#20 Is my big brother dumb? He goes to college and I am the one that finds mistakes in his homework even though I am only 10. For instance, everyone knows “Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 14 hundred and 92.” Why did he write 1493?”

#21 Why can’t I see my favorite doctor anymore? Does he hate me?

#25 Why can’t my daddy find work?

#26 Why did my grandpa fire all those nice people from his chocolate factory? Does he hate them?

#29 Is everything made in China? That is all I see on boxes: made in China.

Yes, dear children, those are very, very good questions and there is are answers, but if I will be 100% truthful with you (I always taught you not to lie), people will call daddy and mommy crazy for loving the America the way it used to be.

So, what do you want, my dearest? Do you want me to lie or tell you the truth?

Gary2

Funny you should post this, Just yesterday my 13 year old daughter asked me why the rich don’t want to pay taxes. As you can guess we had an interesting subject on how the rich bought the government and how them not paying even close to their fair share causes her to have more kids in her school classroom. She said its harder for the teacher to teach and I said the rich do not care they just want money.

She said and I quote “the rich should be happy to pay more taxes for living in this country”

Last year she was nominated as one of the top students in the entire 7th grade so she is a quick learner. (she must take after my wife :)

Gary2

Michael-I have been hearing many young people questioning capitalism and if it is the best way given how unstable and prone to crashes it is. They want a more fair and equal society.

I fear the baby boomers will need to die off before this can be realized, or at least get so old as to be irrelevant. As a Gen X myself I have seen first hand how capitalism as hurt the society. We need a good mix of both socialism and capitalism similar to the Scandinavian countries.

J Colin Vaughan

You voted – from the time of Reagan – for Crony Capitalism. You got Crony Capitalism. What the F*** are you complaining about?

Donald Wilson

The world is screwed, hold tight it is going to be one hellof a bumpy ride.

http://samanthadehart.blogspot.com/ Sammi

This is why everyone needs to watch the new movie out w/Matt Damon Narrating it – “Inside Job” : It would piss the whole world off because clearly this isn’t just a ‘USA’ issue it has and IS happening all over!!!!!!!! UNTIL people FULLY wake up – NOTHING will change! :)

I am starting to awake to the agenda that is planned for America, and it ain’t pretty!

Learn to live with less, and be content with food and clothing.

http://wearamerican.blogspot.com/ Thomas Schiller

All this is a result of the crazy outsourcing! And it’s still going on! But people keep buying all this “UN-AMERICAN MADE” Products and destroy more jobs!
WAKE UP, AMERICA! BUY AMRERICAN!
Patriotism starts with what you wear and NOT with what you say!http://www.wearamerican.blogspot.com

Steve

gary2 should be upset, not at capitalism, but at the “educators” that indoctrinated nonsence into his pea sized cranium.

http://ElevationGroupVideo.com The Elevation Group

They should be asking their parents for financial education, because the market is rigged against individuals.

Learn how to leverage the financial crisis to create wealth and protect your family.

En toto, the author points to what I discovered while trying to take e-VotingBooth.com mainstream (a website for all Americans to vote on Congressional legislation, since shutdown for lack of interest): Americans with the intelligence, education and skills to make changes are completely invested in the system. Yes, they don’t like all the social waste, but they have far too much to risk and therefore go along with whatever Washington does. Of course the other half (#24) are invested in the current trend and would see it continue/accelerate.

In other words, almost all Americans have abdicated their responsibility to participate in the legislative process, whom our Founding Fathers explicitly stated was critical for this experiment (democracy) to be successful. Sadly, we have nobody to blame but ourselves.

What smart Americans need to be determining now is whether they want to stay here in this newest socialist state of the world, especially after folks like North Korea, al Queada, Iran, et. al, start taking pot shots (tactical nukes, EMP weapons, biowar, terrorism, etc.). No matter how socialist we become, we are still the Great Satan to them, just far weaker militarily. Heck, we’ve already proven our impotence against terrorists (Afghanistan).

Personally, I expect to be forcefully retired in the next few years and will immediately leave the country. And quite frankly, I can’t wait, because I’m ashamed, embarrassed and disgusted to call myself an American.